Dying - Outside In

Hairs drop one by one
Gnarled gray, once light
Twelve years in their height
Now gone forever

Ere twelve years, she worked
She was so strong, smart
Ere twelve years, her heart
Forged in iron will

Success sown in sweat
Happiness in pain
Sought to play the game
In triumph, she won

~

Wrinkles trace her brow
Sallow skin, not bronze
Once pure as a swan
Scars and veins now rein

Ere eleven years
Broke through all glass fears
Ere eleven years
Let her stand on top

Nothing could stop her
When she was so sure
When she could endure
Any trial there

~

Her nails were once carved
To utility
Now, fragility
They crack and break down

Ere ten years, she danced
With a short, fat man
Ere ten years, her plan
Had no room for love

He gave her a ring
But she turned him down
It was not her crown
A career was more

~

Eyes now set in folds
Irises, faded
Dark brown so jaded
Almost green in tone

Ere nine years, she left
All she knew behind
Ere nine years, to find
Green there all along

Solitary days
Made efficiency
Her proficiency
Grew and grew and grew

~

A firm arm now limp
Whittled down to bone
Muscles strong as stone
Disappeared in air

Ere eight years, she met
A kind but slow girl
Ere eight years, the pearl
Found her dreams destroyed

Compassion is soft
But money is hard
Someone must be scarred
In the rat races

~

Mouth once firmly rose
Thinned down to pale puce
Words once loud, now loose
Shiver in shadows

Ere seven years, yells
Let them see her wraths
Ere seven years, paths
Were strewn with the low

Bit through underlings
with ferocity
At velocity
To make interns flee

~

Chin once firmly set
Droops with gravity
Weighed depravity
Tugging down it all

Ere six years, a friend
Found was in the way
Ere six years, no pay
Found for him and wife

His eyes were so cold
With icicle frost
More than trust she lost
In that single gaze

~

Wrists now creak with age
No longer adept
They have not but slept
Without pianos

Ere five years, she played
Ivory tickler
Ere five years, stickler
Could not cry her tears

She felt so empty
As if she’d been drained
But what could be gained?
By thinking on it?

~

Legs so slow, so soft
Did they not once run?
Pale without the sun
Her shade so heavy

Ere four years, she stared
Forty floor express
Ere four years, her guess
A step would end it

An intern on break
Saw but turned around
The girl on the ground
Stopped, sped, and saved her

~

Feet once all callused
Grow soft in house shoes
Now so cold, they’re blue
Body hasn’t warmth

Ere three years, lessons
Seeded in her soul
Ere three years, a hole
Told her there was more

The short, fat man played
More than a prelude
They talked over food
He, the girl, the friend

~

Her ears once so keen
Found that volume’s low
Others must speak slow
If they’re to be heard

Ere two years, doctors
Threw words harshly down
Ere two years, a frown
Destroyed everything

“It’s metastatic”
“You do not have long”
All her days were wrong
A life without worth


~

Her heart beats slowly
No longer racing
But simply facing
Her life’s bitter end

Ere one year, she left
All she thought she craved
Ere one year, she paved
Her new path with tears

Her short, fat man held
Her hand that grew weak
Care for the antique
His smile was strained

~

Looks at her body
Consumed by cancer
She found life’s answer
In a growing heart

Ere her life, more lived
And after more die
Ere her life, more died
And after more live

But in her life, love
Treated like a fault
Is hers to exalt
Made her life mean more